Daniel Callison and Annette Lamb introduced the concept of “graphic inquiry” in 2007. They proposed graphic inquiry as the process for extracting information and presenting information in visual formats such as political cartoons, diagrams, maps, photos, charts, infographics, and multimedia. Through a recursive process, employing the basic elements of inquiry (questioning, exploration, assimilation, inference, and reflection), students mature as information scientists and address their personal, academic, and even workplace information needs. Through the process of graphic inquiry, learners of all ages can add visual dimensions to their abilities to make convincing arguments, evaluate information, solve problems, and make informed decisions.

VISUAL COMMUNICATION

A position paper distributed by the Hewlett-Packard Development Company reports the following:

Visual communication is everywhere today, from electronic media-like Web pages and television screens to environmental contexts such as road signs and retail displays. As the National Education Association has pointed out, Western civilization has become more dependent than ever on visual culture, visual artifacts, and visual communication as a mode of discourse and a means of developing a social and cultural identity. There is evidence to suggest that people not only communicate visually more than ever, they also communicate better when they communicate visually (2004).

In their widely used college text Writing Arguments, John D. Ramage of Arizona State University and his colleagues John C. Bean and June Johnson of Seattle University provide many examples for substantiating arguments with the use of convincing visuals. In today’s visually oriented culture, arguments increasingly are supported with photographs, tables, and graphics to help text generate a more persuasive effect. Ramage and his colleagues conclude, “Using visuals in arguments also poses challenges. It places on arguers an even greater burden to understand their audience, to think through the effect visuals will have on the audience, and to make sure that the verbal and visual parts of an argument work together” (2010, 165).

Graphic inquiry, the processes of creating, producing, and distributing material incorporating words and images to convey data, concepts, and emotions, encompasses graphic communication. Charts, diagrams, tables, graphs, and other visual interpretations of material bring together the visual and the verbal to add another dimension to inquiry and create an entirely new path toward unique meaning and broader understanding. The student and those with whom he shares the results of his inquiry “see” a deeper meaning than simply what is conveyed only verbally. As renowned visual researcher Edward R. Tufte has observed, “To envision information—and what bright and splendid visions can result—is to work at the intersection of image, word, number, and art” (1990).

Callison and Lamb contend that authentic learning is reached when the inquiry process not only combines verbal and visual literacy, but when academic, personal, and workplace learning needs become seamless (2004). Inquiry occurs in both formal and informal learning situations. The inquiry is learned through stages of controlled, guided, modeled, and free or open applications through which the student matures in his/her abilities to apply inquiry in order to address various learning challenges (Callison 2009).

• Use of graphic organizers is effective in improving students’ reading comprehension.
• Students using graphic organizers show achievement benefits across content areas and grade levels. Achievement benefits are also seen with students with learning disabilities.
• The process of developing and using a graphic organizer enhances skills such as developing and organizing ideas, seeing relationships, and categorizing concepts.
• The use of graphic organizers supports implementation of cognitive learning theories: dual coding theory, schema theory, and cognitive load theory (IARE 2003).

BASIC INFORMATION INQUIRY ELEMENTS RELATED TO GRAPHIC INQUIRY

Graphic inquiry can be woven throughout the information inquiry process. See Figure 1.

Humans have a natural curiosity that drives the learning processes from birth. Through practice, modeling, and reflection, the ability to focus questions on specific issues and to link questions to refine the exploration for meaningful and relevant inference or conclusion are the intellectual abilities that set humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Benjamin Franklin, America’s first self-taught scientist described in his autobiography how the Socratic Method helped him pose critical questions. Both practical and theoretical, Franklin exemplifies how one learns through inquiry. Many other historical figures have found similar value in the ability to question wisely. The following quotations illustrate the idea that learners who lead and influence others also have a vision:

“The important thing is to never stop questioning.” —Albert Einstein

“The fool wonders, the wise man asks.” —Benjamin Disraeli

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” —Naguib Mahfouz

“The soul never thinks without a mental image.” —Aristotle

Typical questions that may help to analyze visual elements or arguments in the application of graphic inquiry include:

• What does the creator of the visual intend its effects to be?
• What effect does the choice of medium have on the message of the visual text? How would the message be altered if different media were used?
• What cultural values, emotions or ideals does the visual evoke or suggest?
• Is anything in the visual repeated, intensified, or exaggerated?
• In what manner does the visual confirm or counter prior assumptions or knowledge? What does the visual text assume about its viewers, and about what they know and agree with? (Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, and Walters, 2007).

EXPLORATION

Closely tied to questioning, exploration is the action taken to seek answers to a question. There is, therefore, a continuous interaction between questioning and exploration as they inform and refine each other. In many cases, no specific questions are on the agenda, but the drive to satisfy curiosity moves the learner to read, view, listen, and search information. Exploration provides the opportunity for the learner to experience an expanding pool of information possibilities. The more open and wide-ranging the exploration, the more likely it is that the exploration will provide a context for issues and help to refine questions that are truly meaningful and possible to answer.

Exploration of the expanding visual and textual information universe serves to help the learner become a more critical consumer. This exploration involves both the message and the medium. And it involves exploration of how messages may change from one medium to another, from one issue to another, and from one audience to another. Graphic inquiry is more powerful for the learner when there is also a growing knowledge of visual vocabulary, design techniques used to create images, and an understanding of how to identify the characteristics of an image that give it meaning.

One does not become visually literate by simply looking at images, but by comparing and contrasting many images as well as practicing a critical analysis of what various images contribute to the personal knowledge base. Exploration helps the critical learner gather a mental library of ideas to test for assimilation. The skills of analysis and synthesis are eventually interwoven and bring focus to the exploration, thus, identifying specific issues as most relevant to the information need or problem.

ASSIMILATION

This assimilation component of inquiry involves the actions to absorb and fit information to what is already known, believed, or assumed by the learner. In some cases, assimilation means reinforcing or confirming what is known. In other cases, assimilation involves an altering of what has been previously accepted as knowledge by the individual learner or group of learners.

In still other situations, new information may be rejected simply because it does not match current assumptions or beliefs of the learner. In such situations, the learner’s behavior may be to select only from those data, images, arguments, or opinions that “confirm” what the learner believed to be true from the beginning of the inquiry process. Such “belief persistence” should not be mistaken as “holding to core or ideals or principles” (Fitzgerald 1999). Belief persistence based on selective “cherry-picking” of only evidence that supports a pre-concluded notion or desired goal is counter to the values of inquiry. Truth and reason are destinations where the evidence takes the learner rather than where the learner wants to take the evidence. Such is not always simply “rejection of authority,” but more often a refinement of authority that is based on critical analysis of what is reasonable evidence to justify or infer appropriate conclusions.

New information can result in frustrations for the learner, especially if new information is counter to what was previously assumed. New information may also cause frustration if it is not “age appropriate,” in other words, the learner does not have the background or maturity to comprehend the meaning of the new evidence. Such frustrations call for “learning and teaching moments” when teachers or other mentors can guide and explain the meaning, value, and relevance of this new information.

Inquiry, properly applied, turns learning into more than a gathering of facts. Assimilation through inquiry leads to consideration of a wider range of perceptions and options rather than simply those assumed by the learner. As the inquirer matures, assimilation evolves to linking diverse and multiple channels of new information to what is previously known personally. Assimilation involves accumulation of knowledge, alteration of accepted knowledge, and constant consideration of alternatives.

Assimilation encompasses not only the actions of reading and listening, but also the interactive processes of critical analysis and debate, as well as comparing and contrasting facts and ideas. New information assimilated with previously held information becomes new knowledge for the learner.

INFERENCE

This component involves the actions or processes for deriving a conclusion from facts and premises. Inference may also involve personal choice and actions taken based on conclusions that seem most relevant and meaningful for the situation. This type of inference is usually the first step for a learner.

On a personal basis, inference is usually an internal message to the self, and not always conveyed in a formal manner to others. Inference may or may not involve presentation of findings to another audience. However, interpretation of inferences for presentation can be an excellent way to focus on clarification or conclusions, and present meaningful evidence for a specific audience. Assimilation and inference are constantly interacting as a decision process to accept or reject new information.

A sharing of the conclusions may lead to further assimilation of increased information for both the presenter and the audience. Presentation of inferences often results in refining the meaning of the conclusions and can be used to both inform and persuade an audience. In nearly all cases, inference raises new questions for exploration, part of the recursive learning cycle of inquiry.

REFLECTION

Reflection involves evaluation and assessment at formative and summative levels. Each time new information is encountered, reflection should be placed in the information inquiry cycle. Each time a project, plan, or elaborated argument is completed, reflection is needed.

Evaluation levels can include self-reflection, peer feedback, measures of audience response based on argument acceptance or change in positions, and expert evaluation. At the expert level, a teacher or mentor who has mastered the inquiry process provides guidance on how to revise and improve the inquiry processes for future application.

As the learner matures in his or her ability, reflection can be used more and more within each new information encounter. Reflections to assess exploration, assimilation, and inference are formative in that the learner is aware of the consequences of actions in one element on the limitations or opportunities in other elements.

The learner who masters self-reflection becomes more likely to be not only a true independent learner, but also one who can help others master the information and graphic inquiry interactions. The teacher who masters both formative and summative assessment processes will provide more clarity to their guidance and feedback in evaluations of learner actions.

Evaluation is the highest critical thinking skill set. The learner who matures to the level of understanding the value and methods for continuous evaluation is reaching the most demanding aspects for meaningful graphic inquiry.

TEACHING, LEARNING, AND GRAPHIC INQUIRY

Inquiry is an important 21st-century skill. Graphic inquiry fits within the 21st-century definition of “information literacy” offered by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), “Information literacy has progressed from the simple definition of using reference resources to find information. [Today] multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual, and technological, have now joined information literacy as crucial skills for this century” (AASL 2007). Placed within a formal educational environment, the graphic inquiry process can serve to meet the first, basic AASL skill standard, “Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in [the student’s] own life” (2007).

Young people need many experiences, both formal and informal, when working their way through the inquiry process. Whether learning about tessellations in mathematics or tracing the movement of animals during migration, graphic representations are useful throughout the inquiry process. Such a graphic representation using the dustbowl as the focus can be seen in Figure 2.

GRAPHIC INQUIRY AND THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN

School librarians play an essential role in helping young people use graphic representations effectively. Whether helping children unlock clues in historical photographs or guiding them in the creation of infographics, librarians must address the needs of 21st-century learners. The next graphic from the book Graphic Inquiry, by Annette Lamb and Daniel Callison, provides seven key ideas for building these visually-rich environments for inquiry (see Figure 3).